MILAN — Is it the bitter, battling winter following the Arab spring that has created a march of the military in men’s fashion?

A soldierly influence was an undercurrent in the winter 2012 Milan men’s show, which closed Tuesday. The idea of smartening up and shaping up may be a response to Europe’s gloomy economic situation.

But the drum beat of military styles is definitely present, with the rising designer Umit Benan devoting an entire collection to the dismantling of a boot camp and its army gear. With rear vision, the black leather storm trooper coats sent out by Raf Simons for Jil Sander earlier in the season now seem more comprehensible.

There was a moment Tuesday when a Giorgio Armani army walked the runway in velvet jackets topped off with berets and the pleated fatigue pants that dominated the show.

“I don’t want it to be thought of as military,” Giorgio Armani said backstage about his models’ headgear. Instead, he said, the show was about softening the silhouette with the pants and with fabrics whose essence could be understood only by touch.

A double-breasted coat turned out to be knitted, while a tailored jacket was, in fact, in malleable jersey. Zippers were inserted in shirts and vests to create a sleek surface in tweedy materials. And what seemed like patterned ski sweaters were screen-printed.

The collection, with its mostly gray colors, was inspired by the Dolomites mountain range of northern Italy.

The clean, precise and systematic Armani style is so pervasive that it is evident in the new rooftop hotel the designer has opened, with an aerial view of Milan, on the floors above his Emporio store.

That absolute integrity of design — simplicity enriched with architectural precision and surface treatments — is what the designer stands for. And what his show defined. Nothing would have seemed really “new,” as in a jarring note, to the impressive front row of actors and cinéastes. But there were enough ideas, especially the printed-on knit patterns, to refresh the Armani style.

Donatella Versace is on a roll — and her dynamic, colorful Versace men’s wear show proved her new confidence in the brand’s heritage.

“It is all thanks to H&M. I realize that what young people want is real Versace,” the designer said backstage while greeting Milan’s leading soccer players who were seated front row. She was referring to a collaboration with the fast fashion chain and her reworking of some iconic pieces.

In this upbeat show, each Versace characteristic seemed to be pushed to its extreme. There was denim with loads of silvered chains threaded across the fabric; eye-popping color, first in sunshine yellow and grass-green shades for fur collars, then blood orange appearing for a tailored coat.

Versace prints? There were joyous psychedelic patterns on military overalls, with that over-the top decoration calmed by rich, but plain, velvet.

It was a show that returned the vibrancy to Versace that the brand needs to look ahead.

For the Turkish-born Umit Benan, war was not an undercurrent but the soul of his show.

Imagine a last day in camp after a battle truce, as the designer announced the theme to the audience. The “models,” men picked off the street, went about their personal duties: One took a shower before getting dressed; another was given an arm tattoo on stage; a guy in camouflage pants did pushups; another had the same fabric — in fact, an abstract chevron — for his uniform and took charge behind a desk.

The clothes, as they walked the runway, were strong, martial but wearable, not just on a military parade. The silhouettes ranged from bulky to slender, while the belted jacket, a current trend, was executed with perfect proportions. A felted jacket, molded to the body, proved the designer’s cutting skills.

Above all, the imaginative staging, the rough-and-ready show space and the overall energy suggested a strong designer with a long way to go among a line-up in Italy of designer names whose early days are far behind.

Brioni is getting a new lease on life now that it has been bought outright from the founding family by the luxury conglomerate PPR. The presentation in Milan was designed to showcase the essence of the brand: supreme tailoring, with another arm of upscale sportswear but, above all, the sense that the customer is discreet, loyal and engaged.

Four vignettes, using high-profile business clients and other successful males, displayed different aspects of the offering. First came men in well-tailored suits holding a board meeting in front of their computers.

Next up on stage was the tailor whose made-to-measure handwork was being fitted on a client, while others studied a book of possibilities in style and fabric. The Happy Hour (that aperitif moment) was followed by a game of poker, for which these ritzy clients wore brocade smoking jackets and tuxedos.

It was a cute way to show Brioni’s key drivers. But the fashion element has yet to be stitched in.

DSquared2’s witty show sheet, filled with scribbles and inkblots and headed “Our Generation,” was a take on school. The models were the “kids” who were at their desks as the show took off with a smartly dressed teacher walking forward to lick them into shape.

“Military green sir/yes/sir,” read the notes, alongside other demands for rights and to “stand by the revolution.” The music kickoff was the 1970s Pink Floyd song “Another Brick in the Wall,” which includes the lyrics “We don’t need no education.”

But a strange thing happened to all these rebellious boys. By the time they hit the runway, their hair was trimmed and their clothes even trimmer.

They stepped out in khaki caps, with waxed denim jeans and jackets or plain sweaters distinguished only by a furry surface. As they toted big army bags, there was not much left of rebellion from the designers Dean and Dan Caten. Zipper jackets: Yes, sir! Camel coat: O.K., sir? Glitter sleeves: Please sir, don’t ask, don’t tell.

Is long hair on a man still an issue, as it was in the 1960s? There was only one rebellious thing about the Diesel Black Gold collection of finely crafted leather, worked like cable knitting, elegant velvet suits and a range of the casual wear that Italians do so well. It was the fact that long hair on models or on the guitar player who closed the show seemed to represent the cool that is so identified across the globe with Diesel jeans.

How Diesel Gold is supposed to feed that image, whether the contemporary styles are reaching out to the same customer or why the show is put on a runway, are all in question.